Talk of dumbing down. The Nazi-Soviet occupation of Poland was quite incomparable with any other occupation in Europe. The worst atrocities committed in Belarus and Ukraine, were chiefly in areas that before the war had also been part of Poland. It was all part of a very deliberate policy of the partitioning powers. Yet it is also an astounding fact that Poland produced the fourth largest group of soldiers fighting in land, naval and air forces on the Allied side. That's where most of the fit, young men were. It is even more astounding that the politically deeply divided Poles also created the largest and best organised underground resistance movement in Europe. Yet, unlike the Allied armies, the effectiveness of this movement was not based on good looking, Hollywood style machos with submachine guns, but on quite inconspicuous individuals, mainly women, clerks in civic administration, sometimes very old folk, but even more often young kids, boy scouts and girl guides acting as go-betweens. The most important objectives included welfare. In fact, for those who could afford it, even acquiring a secret secondary was a complex underground activity. As Irena Sendler pointed out, active resistance was not especially courageous, when frequently by simply going out into the street you were dicing with death. There was also no shortage of collaborators, but to be decent in those terrible circumstances was an act of civilian heroism, not military.

With all due respect to the "cichociemni", and I had the great honour to know some of them personally, they were a tiny minority who indeed played an important role, but were not the essence of the resistance movement. It is also true that secret, in absentia trials were held, after which some of the collaborators were executed by hitmen. Symbolic justice was sometimes carried out, but obviously not enough to be effective. Even when we include the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Warsaw Uprising and constant partisan activity, the military aspect was not the most important achievement of the Polish resistance movement. The real heroes were nothing like the soap opera stars presented in this Hollywood kitsch TV drama. In the homeland Polish heroism was primarily one of civilian courage and quite brilliant organisation. A fascinating story that is told in other works, but not in this worthless TV series.